rituals and traditions

My congregation has been doing monthly themes for a while, which means all the sermons in a given month are vaguely related and we get a list of things to think about during the weeks. This is May's.

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Possible Ponderings

The theme for May is Tradition.

Possible Ponderings is an offering of ways you might consider engaging more deeply with the theme or reflecting on the ways the idea of Tradition shows up in your life. These will also be printed in the order of service each week.

May 5-11: What are the daily, monthly, or seasonal rituals that sustain you?

May 12-18: Who are the people who have inspired and nurtured you in your life? How can you thank them this week?

May 19-26: How do you live your Unitarian Universalist values in your daily life? How would someone known you are a UU just by knowing you?

May 27-June 1: Take some time this week to notice the memories of those who have died when they come. How does it feel to remember them?

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So. Rituals that sustain me.

On a purely practical daily level, meals and chores. *wry* But also I have a very specific thing I do as close to every day as possible, which is walk to Cascadilla Creek and take a picture from the Tioga St. bridge, looking east. I have been doing that for six or seven years now, and I find it a very useful physical and mental pin to sort of arrange my days around. It makes sure I get out of my house and get some exercise, and it makes sure I spend at least a couple minutes looking at moving water and trees and stuff.

I don't think I have any monthly rituals as such, but there's the seasonal round of gardening, which is very emotionally fulfilling -- sort of "Look! I am helping things grow! And then I get to eat food I participated in creating!" Plus it's very cycle of life. Seeds sprout, plants grow and bloom and fruit, and then they die when winter comes (or I bring them inside and they are slow and tired for a season)... and then spring returns and we start all over again.

In winter I also light candles in the evening a lot, which is both a way to make my apartment smell nicer when it's all closed up against the cold (scented candles, tealights under a wax melter, etc.) and a little bit of light-in-the-darkness symbolism. *wry*

Those are some of my rituals.

What are yours?

a very full weekend

Things Susan and I did this weekend, in no particular order:

1. The Cayuga Lake Wine Trail's annual Wine & Herb Fest event, in which each participating winery offers a small food plus a paired wine to ticket-holders, and then you get to taste up to three additional wines for no extra fee. You also get a little book of recipes for all the snacks, and a small potted herb or vegetable at each winery. I have kept all the plants, because reasons. :)

2. While at one of the wineries, fired potatoes from a giant slingshot toward a basketball hoop both because it was fun and because if we did make a basket, we could win a free bottle of wine. (Spoiler: we did not win free wine.)

3. Made taco salad Sunday evening, which was delicious. Basically you make tacos but instead of trying to stuff everything into a small hard shell, you crumble up the shell into small tortilla pieces and put the other ingredients on top and eat it with a fork. This is especially nice because you can get enough lettuce to actually matter (both for flavor and for nutrition) without it inevitably spilling all over your hands. :)

4. Watched the first five episodes of The Umbrella Academy, two on Saturday night and three on Sunday. Episode five was a terrible place to stop because it ends on about three cliffhangers at once, ARGH. But sleep is also important. *sigh*

5. Went to my church Sunday morning, where the Stewardship Team did a little celebratory announcement that we've reached this year's initial pledge goal (the sustaining budget), and asked people to see if we can now reach the stretch goal (the vision of ministry budget) where we get to implement all the Cool Things you've wanted to do but didn't have the funds for. The celebratory aspect included throwing streamers and tossing/batting about a dozen beach balls around the sanctuary, which the kids loved and a surprising number of adults also got really into. :D

6. The Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble's spring chamber concert (also at my church). The program was Mozart's Sonata in E minor for Violin and Piano (KV 304); Schubert's Trio No. 1 in B-flat for Violin, Cello, and Pinao (D 898); and Brahms's Clarinet Quintet in B minor (Op. 115). All the players were excellent, and I enjoyed the music too although I felt that most of Schubert's movements went on just a little too long -- particularly the first movement.

7. Bought a bunch of potting soil, some tomato cages, a spray bottle of animal repellent, six new plastic pots, and a replacement packet of carrot seeds, because gardening is a demanding occupation and also the local squirrels and/or cats have dug up and destroyed my poor little transplanted carrot seedlings. :(

8. Ate out twice -- at the Antlers for Saturday dinner, and Cafe Dewitt for Sunday lunch. At Antlers I got a scallop au gratin appetizer and a garden salad, while Susan got a crab cake appetizer and a side of vegetable of the day (which was green beans with grilled onions). At Cafe Dewitt, Susan got an omelette special, while I got a sausage side and a rosemary garlic potato side. In both cases, I found that combining two small non-entree items made exactly the right size meal so I had no leftovers. That was nice. :)

9. Installed my air conditioner Monday morning. :) That task takes all of ten minutes, since I drilled all the relevant screw holes the first year, but it really does require three hands and can't be done alone.

10. Poked around a local clothing/jewelry/art/souvenir shop while waiting to be seated at Cafe Dewitt. Susan bought a sundress, and I valiantly refrained from buying a half-dozen earrings.

11. Made brownies using Kahlua instead of water, and also mixing in a packet or two of instant coffee. Then we ate them in bowls topped with vanilla and chocolate ice cream. They were delicious.

12. Spent a bunch of time talking, and some more time just hanging out in each other's general vicinity.

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It was a good weekend. :DDD

tiny plant report

The ten tiny plants I acquired from the Wine & Herb Fest are:

-tomato
-eggplant
-lavender
-lettuce
-sage
-peppermint
-parsley
-bell pepper
-jalapeno pepper
-dill

Susan and I actually visited eleven wineries, but I declined to take a cilantro seedling because I don't like cilantro and nobody in my family likes it either, whereas my parents do like dill and parsley even if I think the former is nasty except for making pickles and have never understood the point of the latter. *hands* I intend to foist the dill and parsley off on my mom, and possibly the tomato as well since I am not made of space and she's expressed some interest in taking a tomato plant to the cabin for the summer.

I'm still deciding what to do with the lavender, sage, and peppermint -- they are herbs I do like, but I don't think I do fancy cooking often enough to use them at a reasonable pace -- but I'm definitely keeping and growing the eggplant, the lettuce, and the two peppers.

And that is my tally of tiny plants. :)